JRSA Training and Technical Assistance Webinar

1. Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Community CorrectionsStephen M. Haas, Ph.D., DirectorOffice of Research and Strategic Planning JRSA Training and Technical Assistance Webinar August 15, 2013

2. Welcome • Presentations: • Applying RNR in Effective Community Supervision: Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS) • Quantifying and Executing the Risk Principle in Real World Settings • Key points: • Building staff (PO) capacity to build collaborative working relationships and apply cognitive-behavioral techniques (James Bonta) • Achieving adherence to the risk principle in practice, and importance of defining and measuring dosage (Kimberly Sperber) • Follows recent special issue of Justice Research and Policy, EBP in Community Corrections

3. JRP Special Issue • Series of articles relate to what is needed to better ensure fidelity to evidence-based practices in community supervision and treatment • Contemporary topics: STICS, Motivational Interviewing, Development, Implementation, and Systemic Impact of Risk Assessment, and Adherence to Risk Principle and Dosage

4. Webinar Presenters: • James Bonta, Director of Corrections Research, Public Safety Canada Kimberly Sperber, Chief Research Officer, Talbert House - Cincinnati, Ohio Moderator: • Stephen M. Haas, Director of the Office of Research and Strategic Planning, West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services

5. The Importance of Program Fidelity “If a program has been unable to adhere to the salient principles [of effective correctional intervention] in a substantive meaningful way, the expectation of observing a significant decrease in re-offending is predictably diminished.” - Rhine, Mawhorr, and Parks (2006), Criminology and Public Policy

6. Current Practice and Challenges • The scientific evidence for what makes for effective community supervision and treatment is abundant and continues to grow • Long-term prospects of the current EBP movement hinge, in a large part, on the capacity of the field to address known barriers to successful implementation • That is, improve adherence to principles and practices that are known to work. • This is the issue of fidelity (or “how well” EBP is done) • Requires systematic measurement (treatment integrity, dosage, etc.), performance monitoring/QA, and feedback

7. Current Practice and Challenges • Much is known about what impacts the successful implementation of EBP in corrections: • Organizational culture/leadership • Poor staff attitudes and orientation toward service delivery • Poor staff selection, training, and competence • Poor monitoring/feedback to staff • Lack of evaluator involvement • Absence of clinical supervision of staff • To overcome barriers, many believe this requires: • Greater use of the knowledge and lessons learned in the emerging “implementation science” (i.e., drivers); • Navigating from thinking about evidence-based programs as an intervention to “evidence-based decision making;” • Recognizing the unique role and necessity for researcher/evaluator involvement

8. 1. Science of Implementation Fixsen et al., 2005

9. 2. Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making • EB decision-making in large-scale, real world correctional environments • Has its own set of demands: • Develop organizational leadership and policy/procedural development; • Moving supervision officers to “change agents” • Staff capacity to weight scientific evidence against individual needs/circumstances and available resources • Training on key skills (e.g., core correctional practice, cognitive-behavioral techniques, MI, offender assessment, and case planning) • Monitoring supervision integrity and performance

10. 3. Importance of Evaluator Involvement • Presence of program planners and evaluators in implementation and ongoing monitoring = larger effect sizes • Recognize the inherent complexity in transferring EBP to the field, use multiple measures/sources for process implementation • Quality assurance mechanisms/performance measures for monitoring adherence and program planning • Defining and quantifying “what is meant by supervision/treatment;” • Refining measures of “quality” versus “quantity”…focusing on treatment integrity • Ascertain how RNR principles are “operationalized” in the field • Through measurement we can fill gaps in our understanding of what leads to good implementation, and what does/does not work and under what condition!

11. Contact Information Stephen M. Haas • Stephen.M.Haas@wv.gov • 558-8814 ext. 53338 Important links: http://www.djcs.wv.gov/SAC/ http://www.facebook.com/wvorsp http://www.twitter.com/wvorsp